Missed byelection a shot in the foot

(September 09) - A couple of strategic problems were solved last week. To do it, a couple of people had to shoot a lot of other people in the foot. The Prime Minister did it to Guelph voters. Elizabeth May did it to her Guelph candidate.

Instead of voting yesterday, we have to wait another month and a half. When we do, it will be in a completely changed environment.

Stephen Harper looked at recent polling data that likely reflected numbers released by the CBC last Thursday. He saw himself rising while the his Guelph campaign was tanking. A predicted disastrous showing by Gloria Kovach would have slowed any momentum he may have had. So he pulled the political switch we thought he eliminated with his fixed election date legislation.

On the day before our by-election, he cancelled it. He shot us in the foot in a blatant attempt to save his own skin. He should be ashamed of himself. We shouldn’t be embarrassed to tell him that when the time comes.

There is one guaranteed outcome from Harper’s self-serving manipulation. The Liberals will reach into their tool box and pull out their strategic voting hammer. They want to hit you on the head with it so frequently that you won’t be able to see and think straight on election day.

Don’t let it happen. Guelph is not going to contribute our seat to a Harper government. Kovach is still carrying too much baggage from the Barr fiasco. Combine that with other things such as her foolish answer when The Mercury asked about compensation for Stephen Truscott, and you’ll see she just doesn’t have the goods. The proof, they say, is in the pudding.

Elizabeth May bought herself a ticket to the televised leaders’ debates last week, and the price was Mike Nagy. The ticket came in the form of Blair Wilson, a former Liberal MP from a wealthy British Columbia riding that stretches from North Vancouver up to the Whistler Mall. It is where the gods of conspicuous consumption live. Traditionally Reform Conservative country, the Green Party manages to get between six and nine per cent.

Wilson is now Canada’s first Green MP, May will go on TV, and Nagy’s legs are cut out from under him. It’s all part of their smooth evolution from environmental movement to political party.

The favourite argument for giving Nagy a by-election vote was that we would make history without fear of changing the complexion of the federal government. It was in his brochures. It was in his answers to Tribune questions. It was in letters to the editor from his supporters. Now it is gone.

We will make as much, or maybe more, history and have the same impact on government by being the first North American riding to elect a Marijuana Party candidate.

If making history is our prime consideration, we could elect Guelph’s first NDP MP. That would have some impact by altering the balance of power on Parliament Hill.

We are not making history, though. We are making government. That involves taking a cold hard look at policy. A leading issue in the by-election was the environment. The CBC poll put all four parties relatively even on this question.

Some thought it strange that the Conservatives could get 20 per cent approval for their environmental policy when they clearly don’t have one.

It makes sense, though. The number reflects the Canadians who don’t care if the ice cap melts as long as they don’t have to pay more taxes.

They are out there, but we shouldn’t let them run the country.